The err of Live

After the fallout that followed the allegations (and denials) about Uefa’s unbecoming conduct of doctoring live proceedings during Euro matches, I’m left wondering how much of ‘live’ action was feed to me after having to trade in my precious sleeping hours.

If you were one of the few fans who caught the second Euro 2012 semi-final between Italy and Germany, you were in for a football treat.

After two relatively tepid nil-nil draws (England/Italy, Portugal/Spain) that went the distance, the battle between Germany (one of the pre-tournament favourites) and Italy (perennial European powerhouse) was an exhilarating goal fest.

History ultimately prevailed, as once again the wily Italians booted the Germans out of a major international tournament, led by the ageless, timeless Andrea Pirlo.

The Germans also suffered another surprising blow, in the form of some unflattering editing.

Despite solid all around play by the hard working Germans, the Azzurri struck fast and hard on the counter. By the 36th minute, Italian striker Mario “ Super Mario” Balotelli had scored the second killer goal adding his tally for the night to two goals.

It was then that the camera cut to a weeping woman, one German fan, presumably overwhelmed by the hopeless hole her team now found themselves in. A single streak of tear rolled down her cheek in epic slow motion.

“A bit early for tears,” a commentator remarked of the premature if not understandable show of emotion with still an hour left to play.

The commentator was spot on.

 As a fan, it’s poor form to lose faith in your side so early into the game. Did German fans really have such little confidence in their team as the ‘live’ feed seemed to suggest?

documentary or stagecraft

Well, actually, German newspapers soon discovered, after her friends bombarded the woman with emails and texts wondering why she had given up so soon. Indeed, the fan had been moved to tears, just not during Balotelli’s shirtless goal celebration.

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